The entry list for 2010 published today has aroused a reaction of disappointment and defiance from Ferrari.

The Scuderia issued a strongly worded statement soon after the FIA announcement. This indicates that they knew what was coming.

“Ferrari shall not take part in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship until the conditions of its entry are satisfied,” said the opening line.

It went on, “Ferrari submitted on 29 May 2009 an entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship which is subject to certain conditions. As of today, these conditions have not been met.

“Despite Ferrari’s previous written notice to the FIA not to do so, the FIA has included Ferrari as a unconditional participant in next year’s Formula One World Championship.

“For the avoidance of any doubt, Ferrari reaffirms that it shall not take part in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship under the regulations adopted by the FIA in violation of Ferrari’s rights under a written agreement with the FIA.”

The FIA statement does not state under what terms Ferrari is entered in next year’s championship. Although the statement also makes no mention of what conditions Williams, Force India and the three new teams are entered under, it is known to be the £40m million budget cap rules.

As part of FOTA’s conditional entry they want the 2009 rules to be applied, so presumably the FIA is taking their entry on that basis, which means a two tier system. The latest thinking on that is that instead of the budget capped teams having technical advantages like more engine revs, they will benefit from technical help from the big teams, but these discussions are far from conclusive.

What is even more interesting about Ferrari’s position now is that they are not part of the ongoing negotiations, in the FIA’s eyes. The entry list talks about further negotiations until June 19th, with the five FOTA teams whose entry it still considers provisional, namely McLaren, Brawn, Toyota, BMW and Renault. But Ferrari is not part of that process.

It seems therefore, that Ferrari’s only option is to take the matter to court, to discover whether or not the agreement it signed with the FIA and with FOM in 2005 is still legally binding. Ferrari say that they have taken extensive legal advice and the contract has been breached by the FIA, because they did not allow Ferrari a right of veto. The FIA has also take legal advice which says the opposite.

Anything can happen once you get something like this into a court room, however.

Ferrari are adamant that their position is exactly as it has been since its board of directors made its statement on May 12th threatening to withdraw unless the budget cap rules package was dropped. This is not a bluff, they insist.

I expected them to be angry about what the FIA has done, here but they are not. They are disappointed, but they are not budging in their convictions nor in their path. So the positions are fairly entrenched now and it will either take a legal battle or a piece of mediation on a spectacular scale to sort this out.

10 comments

What happens if Ferrari and co go off organise some other series, and just to dot the is and cross the ts send a couple of red go-karts to F1 scrutineering?

The FIA was moaning a couple days ago about FOTA's £50m or whatever exit fee as being illegal (creating a cartel or something). Surely Ferrari's agreement with FOM/FIA, would have to be viewed in similar light. I.e. FOM/FIA cannot prevent Ferrari competing in a rival openwheel formula concurrently with F1.

If by competing in F1 means Ferrari sending some nuts and bolts to the tracks to fail scrutineering.

It can't just be me who's getting tired of all this. I put the blame firmly on Mosley's shoulders for dictating unreasonable, intractable rule changes to prove he's the boss. If all he wanted was a reduction in costs so that the sport will survive into the future, his childish King Canute impression is making sure the opposite happens.

Frankly, I wish the FOTA teams would just leave and start a new series because, if they settle and Mosley stays on as President for another term, this is only going to happen time and time again. He's making a mockery of my favourite sport and, one way or another, I just want rid of him.

Well the fia took the nuclear option.We now will see if anyone in F1 has any ballz.So far its been years of weak girly men,cowering beneath the boots of scumbags in power.You notice I havent used the words sport or racing,they have no meaning.....

@AliI'm bored too but I tend to lay the blame on Ferrari rather than Mosley (not that there's much to like about him).Given that FOTA are going to find a vast array of ways to avoid the effect of a cap, whatever the figure is, wouldn't it just be better to get on with the racing?I know Il Modatore thinks I'm down on Italians, but having lived there I did come away with the impression that many Italians prefer a good discussion to getting on with the job - unless it's cooking!If Ferrari want to leave, so be it, get on and leave and start something else - just leave the other teams to make their own decisions about F1.

Good point James, I had not realised on the fact that the FIA does not regard Ferrari as a part of the negotiations. I'm sure this follows a preconceived plan by Mosley, but what about Ecclestone? Sure he's not happy with Ferrari's latest announcement and he is the one who can lose the most. Yet, he remains silent on this big war.

Ok, let's wait one more week. But I hope someday someone takes a more professional approach on big issues than Mosley. Up until now he makes me think he's only interested in the size of his ego compared to the F1 teams. And he is not the key of the success of the sport, that's for sure.

It obviously has nothing to do with the very short term nature of their current technical problem which, by the way, were caused by misleading rules AND the fact that Mosley did nothing about clarifying those regulations before OZ.